1. Manoj Tiwary

One of the most baffling tales in Indian cricket over the last two decades has been pertaining to Manoj Tiwary, who was never given the opportunity to play consistently for the national team despite his batting prowess. Despite hitting his first century in the fifth ODI against the West Indies in 2011, he was omitted from the team for the further matches.

The Bengal player returned to the side for the Sri Lanka series, scoring 65 in the fourth ODI, but was once again dropped as the Indian management continued to support the other young and emerging options. In his Ranji Trophy and first-class career combined, he has accumulated 10195 runs in 148 matches, averaging 48, with 45 half-centuries and 30 centuries.

2. Wasim Jaffer

Wasim Jaffer, a brilliant former Mumbai hitter who, although scoring over 10,000 runs in domestic cricket, was the top-order campaigner who did not fare well in international cricket because he was not thought to be worth his potential. Jaffer has played over 238 innings in the Ranji Trophy, scoring a whopping 12038 runs.

His enormous run total is supported by a remarkable average of 57 and 40 centuries, making him the top run-scorer in the whole Ranji Trophy. He has 1944 runs in international test cricket and 19410 in domestic cricket. As it suggests, he had less success in international cricket than in first-class/domestic.

3. R Vinay Kumar

R Vinay Kumar's Ranji Trophy stats say eloquently about him. In 207 Ranji Trophy innings, he has taken 442 wickets, which is backed by a commendable average of 21. In addition, he has taken 24 five-wicket hauls (5W) and four ten-wickets-a-match (10WM). Unfortunately, he could not handle the pressure and expectations at the most significant level.

The Karnataka captain, who led his team to two consecutive Ranji Trophy titles (2013 and 2014), has only played one Test for India, where he took just one wicket. In his 31 matches ODI stint, he was decent enough to scalp 38 wickets at a noteworthy economy of 5.94, but it is evident that it doesn't sum up his complete performance. The same applies to his T20I stint, where he took 10 wickets in nine matches.

4. Ajay Sharma

Ajay Sharma will be regarded as one of the many incomplete stories in Indian cricket. He made his ODI debut in 1988 and was in and out of the national team till 1993. He played one Test and 31 One-Day Internationals. While he scored 53 runs in his one Test, he totalled 424 runs in 31 ODIs for India.

In 129 First-Class matches, he scored 10,120 runs at an average of 67.46. Meanwhile, he never hit a run count above 60 during his five-year international career. Sharma also bowled slow left-arm orthodox, taking 87 First-Class and 15 International wickets. His First-Class career ended prematurely due to match-fixing charges. 

5. Arun Lal

Arun Lal played 156 first-class matches and scored 10,421 runs, an amazing total for a talismanic veteran batter. He averaged 46.94 on the domestic circuit, with the highest score of 287, and was the driving force behind Bengal's Ranji Trophy victory in 1989-90.

Arun Lal's skill in the sport can be traced back to his father, uncle, and cousin, all of whom were Ranji players. Unfortunately, India was unable to take advantage of his potential. In a seven-year international career, he played only 16 Tests and 13 One-Day Internationals, failing in both formats.